Cheese Buns
by SythiaSkyfire
Summary: Katniss returns to District 13 after escaping from the Capitol. Katniss was captured instead of Peeta, but was never hijacked. Happy, fluffy, somewhat humorous. Not sure if I like this one, so please review. One-shot.


**Hey, guys. This is something a little different. Let me know what you think. Just something happy and fluffy.**

**In this, Katniss was taken by the Capitol instead of Peeta, but she was never hijacked. She escaped the Capitol and trekked across Panem to get to D.13. She just arrived at D.13. **

**It's a long-shot, I know, but the plot bunny just had to be written. :)**

* * *

After all my practice with the fence in 12, not to mention the dozens of obstacles I've faced since escaping from the Capitol, the fence surrounding what's left of the aboveground District 13 is a breeze. Now I just need to find some way to- aha. There. A window poking out about a foot above the earth, propped open with a stick. I slip up to it, casually drop my quiver into whatever room is below, and then quickly squeeze my way through the window. Fortunately, I don't get stuck. Living off what you can find in the wilderness for a couple of months while you hike across the country does tend to slim you down quite a bit.

I'm on high alert the moment my feet touch the ground. This could be any room in District 13. A bathroom, a hallway, a command station, a cafeteria, anything. And whoever I've just startled by dropping in, so to speak, could react to my presence in any number of ways. But I'm alone. In what looks like living quarters. There are two beds, a dresser, an open bathroom door and a table. Everything is gray.

I jump about twenty feet in the air when I hear the hiss. I'm already reaching for an arrow when I see the world's ugliest cat curled up in a corner, ears plastered back. "Buttercup!" I laugh.

Another, uncertain hiss.

I dig around in the bottom of my quiver and pull out the last of the meat I've been working on. I shot it a couple days ago, with the bow I retrieved from my forest right outside 12. After I finished screaming curses into the sky at seeing my nonexistent district. But since then, getting food has been much easier. And now that I'm in 13, I don't need to hunt anymore. I'm sure I'll be faced with more food than I can eat once everyone figures out I'm here.

I toss the meat to Buttercup and he stops hissing to scarf it down. While he eats, I watch him. If he's here, this must be my mother and Prim's room. Where are they? Working, probably. The clock above the door says it's 11:17am.

A grin crosses my face. If I'm going to surprise everyone by showing up unannounced in the middle of District 13 when, as far as they know, I'm still in the clutches of the Capitol, I may as well take a shower first. It's the Everdeen's room, after all. My room.

I go to the dresser and pull out some of what I assume are my mother's clothes- Prim can't have grown _that_ much- before jumping into the shower. It's heaven. After having nothing but bitingly cold streams and ponds to bathe in for months, the lukewarm water and unscented, rough soap feel more luxurious than any Capitol shower I ever used. I comb out my hair and braid it, noticing for the first time just how long it's gotten.

As I brush, I look at myself in the mirror. All but the very worst injuries I suffered at the hands of the Capitol have faded almost completely in the time I've been walking to 13. I'm much too thin. Almost skeletal. But my face is the same, if a little sharper at the edges. The gray clothes I'm now wearing make my skin look a little pale.

At last I slip on an extra pair of uncomfortable gray shoes I find in the closet and skip out into the hall. I'm ridiculously happy. I don't know where I'm going, I just choose a direction and go. Singing and twirling randomly like a little girl. People turn and stare at me, but I don't care. If they recognize me, they'll probably think it was a hallucination.

I come across an elevator and step right in. There's a chart on the wall listing what's on what level. Perfect. Let's see, command, armory, living quarters, cafeteria… Cafeteria, I decide, as my stomach roars. I punch the button and bounce on my toes as I wait. At last the doors slide open and I practically charge out, running straight into someone tall, tipsy, and smelling distinctly of alcohol.

I put on my best fake scowl and snap, "Watch it, Haymitch."

He grumbles an apology and starts to move away. Then he freezes. Slowly, very slowly, he turns back to me. His face is priceless. "K… Ka… Katniss?" he asks, bewildered.

I roll my eyes. "No duh. Jeez, how much did you drink?" A great big, bubbling laugh is threatening to burst out of me any second, but I manage to keep a straight face.

"I… you… What-?" Haymitch splutters. He looks like he's about to hyperventilate. "How the-?"

That's it. I can't hold in my laughter any more. I double over, laughing so hard tears prick at my eyes. Then, without giving him time to process what just happened, I pat Haymitch on the shoulder, say, "Good to see you," and continue on my way down the hall.

I follow the general sound of voices coming from what looks like a large room ahead. People stream in and out of the wide doorway. It must be lunch time. I'm grinning again. I'll just walk in, get some lunch, sit down at a table with someone I recognize and start eating like-

Then something stops me in my tracks. I turn my head, already leaning towards the scent. I'd know that scent anywhere. Cheese buns. _Peeta!_ And before I know it, I'm running flat-out, pushing people aside, following that smell. Peeta, Peeta, Peeta. It's like my heartbeat is a name. Peeta's name. I scold myself. He should have been my first priority! What was I doing, changing clothes and playing pranks on Haymitch, when I could have been looking for him? I need to get to him, as soon as possible!

There's the door. It's marked _Kitchen_ in neat white letters. I ease it open, not wanting to scare whoever else is in the kitchen, and step inside. At first I don't see anyone. Just a large, gray kitchen with ovens and stoves lining the wall and dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. Then I spot him. Just pulling a tray of cheese buns from the oven. Blonde hair rumpled. Peeta.

I want to scream and jump up and down and run to him and never, ever let him go, but I'm frozen. He places the tray on a counter without turning around and straightens up. My eyes lock onto that tray. I'm so hungry. One second I'm standing by the door, petrified, and the next I'm right by the counter, hand zipping out to grab a cheese bun. My fingers are singed and I yank my hand back, yelping.

Peeta whirls around. Our eyes meet and emotions cross his face so quickly I can barely identify one before another takes its place. Confusion. Shock. Relief. Joy. At last it settles back on shock.

"Katniss?" he whispers.

I nod, clenching my burned hand, but all I say is, "Careful. The tray's still hot."

Then I'm pulled into a crushing embrace, and my toes are lifted off the ground as Peeta makes on odd, half-laughing, half-crying sound. I feel drops of water on my neck, and I'm not sure if Peeta's crying or if it's just my still-wet hair dripping.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god, Katniss. I thought you were… We haven't seen you on TV in months… We assumed… How?" he manages, pulling away just far enough to look into my eyes.

"I walked," I say simply. "After the last interview, I decided I was done. So, after they put me back in prison clothes but before I was back in my cell, I left. And I've been walking back to you ever since."

"Just like that?" He raises his eyebrows, but his arms are still locked around my waist like he never wants to let me go. And I don't want to let him go, either.

"Well, that's a very, very long story short." My stomach grumbles again and I glance at the cheese buns. I ask quietly, "Can I have one of those?"

Peeta laughs and spins me around, and then surprises me by planting a kiss on my lips. I relax immediately. This is what I needed. This is what I've been missing, what I wished for all those long miles on the road. Peeta. He pulls away far too soon and replies softly, "Sure. Have the whole batch. Whatever you want."

I consider this. Then I say, matter-of-factly, "I want another kiss."

And I get one.


End file.
